US$1 million 'reward' offered here for spell checker app that can correct 'atomic typos'

by Leinad Moolb
Webposted October 15, 2012

Back in 2010, TechEye ran a piece headlined "Un-spell-check-able 'atomic typos' in digital age hard to find," and what was true then is still true today. And recently, an inadvertent headline in an English-language expat newspaper in Taiwan asked the $64,000 question: Is there a spell checker application that can spot and correct "atomic typos" and if so, where is this digital tool?



Actually, the headline in the China Post the other day read: "Spell checkers developing 'atomic typo' capabilities". But this was an inadvertently inaccurate headline. In fact, spell checkers still cannot spot or autocorrect atomic typos. Someone must be working on this idea, but as far as this reporter can tell, this kind of spell check app is still far away from being put into place in newsrooms -- both print and digital -- around the world.



Spell checker applications cannot "see" atomic typos, because, of course, the words that are "atomic typos" are actually spelled correctly. It's just that they are out of context for what the writer meant to type into his or her computer screen.



The problem in the digital age is that we rely too much on spell checkers to flag words that may not be spelled correctly. As you know, spell checkers may be stand-alone capable of operating on a block of text, or as part of a larger application, such as a word processor.



While the first spell checkers were widely available on mainframe computers in the late 1970s, the first spell checkers for personal computers did not appear until 1980.



Spell checkers have one major flaw: they cannot "see" words that are spelled correctly but are wrong for the intended context. Call them atomic typos -- "c*nt" for "count" is another one that has slipped through the cracks in the machine, according to one mischievous punter in Scotland.



Even in our high-tech digital world, most context-challenged spell-check systems are unable to detect an atomic typo because, well, it just can't. And why are they specifically called “atomic” typos? Apparently because the mistakes are so small or minute, like an atomic particle.



The term “atomic typo” is a new term and has been in use in computerized newsrooms for just over 10 years or so, although its use as a printing term in common conversation and news articles is very rare. In fact, you might be hearing it for the first time here.



In plain English, an atomic typo is a very small, one-letter typographic mistake that ends up making a big difference in the meaning of a specific sentence. It could even impact an entire news article, too. Machines cannot detect the error. Only the human eye, in connection with the human brain, can do it. So much for spell check.



More examples of atomic typos that appear in English-language newspapers worldwide every day: county for country, peace for piece, game for name, sox for box, and so on. Spell check just cannot see these mistakes, and with fewer and fewer copy editors and proofreaders working in newsrooms these days, atomic typos are just par for the coarse now. Oops: I meant to type “course,” of course. See?



Given all of the above, we would like to make a modest offer: the first person to come up with a workable spell check app that can spot and correct "atomic typos" will receive a reward of US$1 million, although I will not be the person handing out the cash. It will come, if the app passes all its tests with flying colors, in the form of a big fat royalty check from the venture capitalist who purchases the app from you.

Interested? Let the race begin.











Read more: http://news.techeye.net/internet/un-spell-check-able-atomic-typos-in-digital-age-hard-to-find#ixzz286wAnHQR